Underwriting Manager
Location: Wimborne, Dorset / Hybrid
Full Time - 35 hours per week (Monday - Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm)
Salary: Up to c. £55,000 per annum
We're looking for an experienced and people-focused Underwriting Manager to lead our underwriting function, ensuring excellent customer outcomes, robust risk management, and the delivery of responsible lending solutions.
This is an exciting opportunity for a proven underwriting professional who combines strong technical expertise, with experience in manual underwriting, with outstanding leadership skills. You'll play a pivotal role in managing a talented manual underwriting team, supporting strategic lending initiatives, and helping drive the continued growth and success of the Society.
As a Certified Role under SM&CR, the postholder is accountable for maintaining their own fitness and propriety and upholding the FCA Conduct Rules.
Key Responsibilities
Team Management
- Leading and managing the Underwriting/Underwriting Support Team’s to deliver effective underwriting and customer outcomes with a solution based underwriting approach to support the Society’s growth plans
- Provide technical underwriting guidance to team members
- Ensure decisions within the department remain compliant with Lending Policy, credit risk appetite, and regulatory expectations in accordance with relevant MCOB rules.
- Ensure discretion afforded to underwriters is correctly utilized to provide responsible lending solutions within credit risk appetite
- Ensure underwriting of cases, post completion contract variations and review of case referrals are completed within SLA’s
- Ensuring the team are kept informed to changes to Lending Policy and wider processes which impact them
- Maintain relevant processes and procedures
- Effective team management, including creation and roll-out of annual PDRs, monthly, quarterly and annual 1-2-1s, quality control feedback, training and development, mandate recommendations, application decline review and confirmation, and Incident Reporting (Lets Fix It) action setting
- Completion of the teams quarterly T&Cs
Underwriting mandate
- Maintain a mandated position
- Underwrite mortgage applications regardless of amount focusing on the assessment of out of policy and more complex mortgage loans across a mix of residential lending types
Wider responsibilities
- Investigating and responding, where required, with requests relating to both internal and external audits to ensure their effective completion.
- Provide technical/regulatory support to BDM’s, Broker Support, Intermediaries, Internal Mortgage Advisors, Underwriters, Mortgage Servicing and the wider business
- Liaise with external partners and manage those relationships (such as LGSS, MIG, L&G, RSM UK, etc.).
- Proactively consider and where appropriate implement process and other improvements that optimise the effectiveness and efficiency of the Underwriting team
- Complete other tasks as required by the Chief Lending & Lending Officer
- Ensuring the delivery of an effective underwriting team utilising the skills of new and experienced manual underwriters.
- Ensure applications are underwritten competently and within risk appetite
- Ensure submitted applications are processed to an acceptable level and within SLA’s
- Ensure servicing sales referrals are completed to an acceptable level and with acceptable timeframes
- Ensuring the work completed within the department meets regulatory and internal compliance requirements.
- Look to identify and deliver operational efficiency whilst maintaining acceptable levels of control/oversight
- Keeping up to date with, and maintaining a knowledge of, credit risk and regulatory rules/guidance connected with the assessment of mortgage applications
- Keeping all policy and supporting literature up to date.
Qualifications/Experience
Essential
- Experience of managing teams and developing staff working on own initiative
- Experience of manually underwriting both standard and (Specialist (Complex) areas of lending where discretion has been afforded
- Understanding of credit risk
- Understanding of individual and company accounts for the purpose of understanding the sustainability of current or potential income
- Understanding of Property Risk
- Analytical, thorough and able to interpret and communicate personal financial information in a practical way
- Clear communicator with a history of liaising with Intermediaries/BDM’s, Credit Committee and the wider business
- Ability to train and support colleagues with Specialist application assessments, documenting and tracking progress and ongoing development
Desirable
- Completion of case review/T&C of underwriters
- Maintaining Policies and procedures
- Working knowledge of MCOB and other regulation.
What We Offer
- Competitive salary and annual performance bonus
- Comprehensive training and ongoing professional development
- 27 days’ holiday + bank holidays
- Pension scheme and life assurance
- Employee wellbeing scheme
- Opportunities for career progression within a growing organisation
How to Apply
Ready to take the next step in your career? Apply now with your CV and a short cover letter telling us why you’d be a great fit for our team.
Pay: Up to £55,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company events
- Company pension
- Free parking
- Health & wellbeing programme
- Sick pay
- Work from home
Experience:
- Underwriting: 2 years (preferred)
- Management: 1 year (preferred)
Work authorisation:
- United Kingdom (required)
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Wimborne BH21
